The present invention relates to satellite communications systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to satellite communications systems providing Internet service to computer users.
Computer networking is rapidly becoming ubiquitous in present day society. Computer networks have grown from isolated connections among research scientists and universities to the “information superhighway” of today. Access to this superhighway is typically accomplished through the “Internet”. The Internet utilizes a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) communications system which is utilized by hundreds of millions of users worldwide.
Through the use of standardized formats, computer users can easily access and navigate through the abundance of information which is accessible through the Internet. This information includes not only research and news information but has now spread to commercial advertising and business communications which permit users to download images, video, sound clips and/or text documents relating to a company's products. This information is transmitted over the Internet in measurements commonly referred to as bits.
Conventionally, access to the Internet is achieved by using slow, terrestrial dial-up modems through commercial telephone systems such as the public system telephone network (PSTN). Unfortunately, the fastest transmission rate commonly available over the PSTN is 56K bits per second (bps). Because such transmission rates are prohibitively slow for some practices, such as the transmission of video information, additional systems have been devised including Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and T1 systems which require special cabling to be constructed to the computer user. Unfortunately, ISDN and T1 communications systems are too expensive for the average computer user. Because it will take a long time and substantial expense to connect computer users to the Internet via highspeed transmission lines, such as fiber optic lines, it is desirable to implement some type of highspeed Internet communications system that could be rapidly and inexpensively implemented. Moreover, as explained above, the Internet is largely accessed through telephone lines and dedicated communication lines. Such infrastructure exists today only in developed countries. In undeveloped countries, communities separated by vast distances have limited telephone service, if any. Even where there is telephone service, the quality of the telephone connection is often poorly suited to support the transmission of digital data at a useable rate.
The lack of access to the Internet is rapidly becoming more of a problem as users have expanded beyond academics, researchers and computer enthusiasts, and it has become virtually mandatory for members of the general public to participate in the global community via the Internet. For example, physicians in developed countries now confer electronically over the Internet. School children search encyclopedias, obtain information from far away places and even “chat” with other children around the country. Those without access to the Internet are left educationally behind.
To overcome the deficiencies of the present Internet infrastructure, systems have been proposed which make use of satellite communications to access the Internet. For example, Direct TV, a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics, Inc., provides highspeed Internet access through their collection of Direct Broadcast System (DBS) satellites which were originally constructed to provide satellite television service. Unfortunately, the Direct TV system does not provide a communication link for the user to send information back to the Internet via the satellite. Accordingly, a computer user must utilize a separate terrestrial telephone line through the PSTN system or the like to provide communications to an Internet provider. Though the transmission rate from the computer user through the PSTN system to an Internet provider is substantially slower than the downlink from the DBS satellite, this system is generally acceptable as computer users generally receive (download) much greater amounts of data from the Internet than they transmit. Accordingly, it is generally acceptable for the computer user's uplink (transmission) rate to be substantially less than the computer user's download rate. However, the Direct TV system suffers from several disadvantages as a user must have both a satellite receiver and a connection to telephone service. In many portions of the globe, access to both a satellite dish and telephone line are unavailable.
In order to overcome this disadvantage, systems have been proposed which utilize a single satellite system for both the uplink and downlink of Internet data to a computer user. For example, an Iridium/Motorola cellular telephone system provides two-way Internet access at approximately 2.4K bps. Meanwhile, Inmersat has proposed a satellite cellular telephone system which will provide 64K bps of Internet access. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,912,883 issued to Herschberg as the inventor and assigned to WorldCom Systems, Inc., discloses a satellite communication system which optimally would permit 9.6K bps of Internet access. Unfortunately, these rates for transmission and receipt of data to the Internet are far too slow to be practical for many computer users. For example, the transmission of a few seconds of live action video would take literally hours to be transmitted from the Internet over these satellite systems.
Accordingly, there is a substantial need for a lowcost, highspeed system which provides access for the computer user to the Internet.
It would also be desirable if an Internet communication system were provided which could substantially utilize existing communications infrastructure.
Moreover, it would be particularly desirable to provide a communications system which could access the Internet which did not require the utilization of telephone lines or highspeed transmission cables. To this end, it would be even more desirable if the communication system provided the computer user with mobile access to the Internet and/or access to the Internet from remote areas around the world.